Pressure cookers generally comprise a vat or cooking vessel of a size to receive a wire basket in which the product to be cooked is placed and then immersed in the cooking oil contained in the vat. The vat is closed by a lid which is sealed to the top of the vat, whereupon the product is cooked for the desired length of time under heat and pressure. Following the cooking cycle, the pressure in the vat is relieved and the lid opened, whereupon the product is removed from the wire basket, the customary practice being to transfer the cooked product to trays which are of a size to be received in a holding and/or display cabinet where the cooked product is retained under controlled conditions until served. Depending upon the size of the food service facility and/or the demand for the products, many facilities utilize banks of two, three or more conventional pressure cookers to meet the demand.
Efforts have hitherto been made to provide large capacity pressure cookers, including units having two or more cooking vats which may be used simultaneously. Such large capacity pressure cookers have met with limited acceptance due to their size, difficulties in operation and maintenance, as well as their complexity. These factors have made it impractical for the cookers to be operated by personnel lacking the size and physical strength to cope with the rigors of the manual operations required to operate the equipment. Efforts to mechanize the operation of the units, as by means of electro-mechanical or hydraulic controls for raising and lowering the lids of the vats, have produced more problems than they have solved, particularly insofar as maintenance problem and attendant down-time are concerned.
In contrast to the foregoing, the present invention provides a large capacity pressure cooker capable of handling, for example, ten heads of chicken, while at the same time providing a unit which may be easily operated by the average worker without undue physical exertion.